Jodhi May

Jodhi May is a British actress best known for her work on controversial costume dramas.

Born in Camden Town, London, England, she first acted at the age of 12 in 1988 in A World Apart. The story was set in South Africa during apartheid. May played Molly Roth in this coming-of-age tale. The role earned her a best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, the youngest recipient of such an award. She earned herself a place at Wadham College in Oxford University where she studied English.

In 1992 she played Alice Munro opposite Daniel Day Lewis in the epic The Last of the Mohicans. In the same year she played Lea, the younger of two sisters in the incredibly controversial Sister My Sister opposite Julie Walters and Joely Richardson. Set in France in 1932 the story was based on a true event - the horrific murder of two wealthy women by their maids. The maids were sisters, but allegations abounded that they were also lovers. Thus, Sister My Sister dealt with the dark themes of lesbianism, incest and murder.

In 1997, Jodhi played a young Russian woman, Anna, in The Gambler opposite Michael Gambon. The story was based on the gambling addiction of 19th-century Russian author Dostoyevsky, who later abandoned his liberal political beliefs to embrace monarchist values. May played the author's lover. Two years later, she appeared in the opulent BBC television series Aristocrats which was based on a best-selling biography of the 18th-century Lennox sisters. May played the youngest sister, Sarah. The drama took place in London high-society in the reign of King George II.

In 2002 she once again appeared in a film with a lesbian theme, this time as Florence Banner in Tipping the Velvet. A year later, she played the doomed 16th-century queen, Anne Boleyn, in the BBC drama The Other Boleyn Girl based on the novel by Philippa Gregory. She played opposite Natascha McElhone as Anne's elder sister, Mary. The historical Anne Boleyn had been falsely accused of incest before her execution in 1536. The Other Boleyn Girl caused controversey by suggesting that the allegation was true. Rumours stated that May was unhappy with this, and would have preferred a more sympathetic portrayal of the queen. The Other Boleyn Girl did not receive rave reviews, and eight months later Helena Bonham Carter played a more historically accurate version of Anne in a rival two-part drama, Henry VIII.

May has also been involved in directing and script-writing. She is currently filming Land of the Blind and On a Clear Day will be released later this year in the UK.